I WANT MY PERKS

(MSNBC 2/3/06) Just two weeks after House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) pledged to pass far-reaching changes to the rules of lobbying on Capitol Hill, House Republican members pushed back hard against those proposals yesterday, charging that their leaders are overreacting to a growing corruption scandal. In a tense, 3 1/2 -hour closed-door session, many Republicans challenged virtually every element of the proposal, from a blanket ban on privately funded travel to stricter limits on gifts to an end to gym privileges for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists.

Says Pesce, President of UCAnation.org “I’m a business professional and have been for over 23 years. I have managed many vendor/company relationships, and if you let vendors act like lobbyists, they will buy you all kinds of special things to get you to sign a deal with them. After all, paying $10,000 for a family trip for four to an exotic Island getaway is nothing if you as a vendor/lobbyist get that $15 million dollar deal. In the real world of business, any gift in excess of $25 dollars is unethical and frowned upon, and in most cases, grounds for immediate employment termination. It is time to start holding our elected officials to these same standards.”

Fight the Machine